I think that just as much, or even more so, I am in awe of certain man made locations. I am very much a city sort of person, and certain parts of human accomplishment I find genuinely inspiring.
So, what man made landscapes or places do you find awe-inspiring?
For me, it’s Circular Quay in Sydney. When I am standing there, with the Opera House on one side, the Harbour Bridge on the other, with the beautiful skyline behind me, looking out over the north shore, the beautiful harbour in front of me, I find that it is an intensely emotional experience, especially at night. It makes me feel that humanity is a good thing, that we are capable of wonderful things. It might be cliched, but I love this place. Sydney is a great city, and this is its most awe-inspring point. I never tire of it, no matter how many times I visit.
I’m from a small town about 35 miles north of San Francisco, California. When one drives south, the city is entirely hidden from view by the Marin Headlands.
And then you go through the Rainbow Tunnel, and everything suddenly comes into view. The whole of the San Francisco Bay is to your left, which can be gray or green or blue, and sometimes has whitecaps and is often decorated with many white sails. There are two islands in the Bay, green and forested Angel Island, and smaller Alcatraz, with the old prison and the lighthouse. The Pacific Ocean is to your right, the waves crashing against the Headlands. If it’s a very clear day, you can even see the Farallones a few miles offshore. The taller buildings in Oakland are easily visible on the eastern shore of the Bay, and you can see the cars heading back and forth across the Bay Bridge. The skyline of San Francisco is just in front of you, if it’s not too foggy, anyway.
But the main part of the view, mostly because you’re headed right for it, is the Golden Gate Bridge. It’s big, it’s bright orange, and it’s always an amazing sight. It was built in 1937, and only eleven workers died, an unbelievable number for the time. The government refused to even attempt the project, claiming there was no way it could be successful, so residents of Marin, Sonoma, and Napa Counties voted for bonds to pay for its construction. Prominent citizens tried to prevent its contruction, claiming that it would ruin the natural beauty of the area, something that would be laughed at now. Whether it’s sunny, or the bridge is half-hidden in fog, it’s an incredible sight, and one that offers proof that humans can create wonderful things.
Standing on the Las Vegas strip on a Saturday night. Appreciating the sheer scale of the hotels, the lights, and the electric excitement of a big win just waiting for me at the next casino. Of course I never win anything but it’s exciting just the same.
The Angkor Complex in Cambodia. Mind blowing. All the Wats are amazingly impressive. I’d be very surprised if anything I see for the rest of my life beats it.
Ok, I’ll bite…I guess I should huh. The Pyramids in Giza have always sent me into another train of philosophical thought. They had no metal. Think about that. They had the means to fashion gold, limited iron, but zero capability to make a metal structure. No electricity.
As a man made object, they put me in Awe. I was there after college in 1989, I still have some sand I picked up there, in my rock collection.
Second. In lieu of recent events. The International Space Station. nuff said.
Far and away the most amazing man-made entity I’ve ever personally visited is the Taj Mahal. I simply couldn’t shake the feeling that I’d stepped into a fairy tale, the thing is so ridiculously perfect.
The sights I am in awe of are on opposite sides of the world.
I found the Great Wall of China staggering in it’s size. Standing on top of it, it seemed to go on forever, and driving back to the hotel afterwards, every so often we would turn a corner and there would be another piece of wall. The sheer effort that must have been involved in building the wall is impossible for me to comprehend.
In my home town of Brighton, I love the regency crescents. We seem to be overstocked with them. Walking along the seafront you pass crescent after square after crescent, long roads of immaculate (from a distance) regency terraces. Today, in the sunshine, they were stunning. I’ve looked, but I can’t find a photo that does them justice.
Also in Brighton, the Royal Pavilion is probably my favourite man made structure. A minature version of the Taj Mahal, built for one of our deranged monarchs, it’s sits in all its glory, completely out of place but unselfconscious, next to one of the busiest main roads in town. Inside and out, it’s loud, vulgar and absolutely amazing.
There are a pair of matching high-rise office buildings across the street from each other in Madrid. They have been designed and built leaning towards each other over the street!!!
The program showed how they were built. A cool thing is the elevators, because of the angle of the buildings when you get on the elevator say on the right side of the building, when it gets to the top floor you get off the elevator on the left side of the building.
Some of the seemingly decorative architectural features are actually part of the structural design that keeps the buildings from falling.
A mineshaft driven 2400 feet down through high grade iron ore. We turned the ore into automobiles and tanks for WWII, and left behind a complex worthy of Tolkein’s dwarves. It is quietdown there now.
Some great structures have already been mentioned. Some more…
Il Duomo, the famous cathedral in Milan. Everything about that building is awesome, unbelievable, incredible, majestic, breath-taking. It took a gazillion years to build and is supposed to hold the record for how many individual statues adorn the interior and exterior. What’s more, they even allow you to go up and walk around on the roof so you can admire more of the structure, and survey the city at the same time.
Here in London we built something called The Millenium Dome for the Y2K festivities. The project was a political disaster and the structure itself was and remains a white elephant, but that’s a shame because in terms of design, engineering and architecture it really is magnificent. When I went there, I spent more time gawping with delight at the structure than I did at any of the content (most of which was unadulterated crud, and precisely what you get when committees of politicians work with committees of designers and the brief changes every week).
When I went up the Eiffel Tower it was much bigger than I thought it was, and many people tell me the same. You see photos and pictures, but they never really convey the scale of the thing. And then you actually walk up to it and… wow! That is one huge metal edifice!
I still think Grand Central Station in NY is awesome in its way. All that marble, all that craftsmanship… and yet still very functional.
The Western Wall, in Jerusalem, Israel. Yeah, it’s just a wall, and not particularly fancy as walls go. But people travel from all over the world to touch it, to slip a note to god between the stones, to pray in front of it. It was built over two thousand years ago. No matter what your faith, I think it would be hard to visit the Kotel and not feel something. I personally find it meaningful that the Kotel is adjacent to The Dome of the Rock, one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen, and al-Aqsa. One of the most supremely beautiful experiences of my life was of standing in the plaza by the Kotel as the muezzin at al-Aqsa called for sundown prayers. The sound of the call bounced off all of the walls, echoing and echoing and echoing.
<hijack>
Being from the St. Louis Metro Area, I’ve never quite had a handle on the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial’s place in the list of the world’s architectural/engineering feats — to me, it’s just sort of a “local” landmark. What’s the opinion of the Arch from those of you not from St. Louis?
</hijack>
If I squint, I think I can see the Arch as an American icon, on par with the Golden Gate Bridge or the Empire State Building. It is unique. With apologies to Cardinal fans, nothing says “St. Louis” the way the Arch does. But seeing the film about the building of the Arch really brought home what a technological marvel it is.
By the way, whenever I referred to it as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, the response was usually “huh?”. Everybody knows “The Arch”.
The CN Tower. Just astounding; the height of the thing is utterly mind-boggling.
The Hoover Dam. What blew me away was not just the enormous, astounding size of the thing. What really blew me away was the idea that they dug holes in the cliff walls and redirected the entire Colorado River through them. The size of the entire structure cannot be appreciated through pictures; you must see it in person to believe it.
The New York skyline. Mass. Density. Industry. Amazing.
Airports. There’s just something about them, I can’t really explain. I think it might be the concept of a place that thousands of people arrive and depart from every day via large aircraft.
Tikal, the ancient Mayan capital in Guatamala. Massive, sky tickeling temples just rising out of the jungle. Climb up on one of the temples and look around, you’re above the canopy so it’s like this see of green all around you, broken by these massive grey stone structures just towering above jungle. Of all the places I’ve been this is the only manmade creation that has left me awestruck.
When finished, the statue of Crazy Horse will be 563 feet high and 641 feet long. The finished head is over 87 feet high, and work is in progress on the 22-story-tall horse’s head.
